EXCLUSIVE: Le Père Opens First Flagship
Le Père is embarking on its first retail expansion.
The streetwear brand is opening its first flagship on Saturday at 90 Orchard Street in Manhattan. The 1,000-square-foot store is the brand’s first long-term retail initiative since launching more than a year and a half ago.
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“We’ve done a bunch of events with our community and our community is obviously growing,” said Le Père founder Ryan Wright. “Every time we did an event, you could feel the electricity with our community. For me, it’s kind of like music — like no matter how good your speakers are, there’s nothing better than seeing your favorite artist live. And so we said we really need to be in a space where people can feel the clothes.”
Le Pére has worked with a rotating assortment of artists for each collection since its inception, and the store is meant to be a hub for its creators and community of customers. Wright stated the store will host events like panels, album listening parties and art exhibitions, among others.
Wright explained the brand chose the Lower East Side location because many of Le Père’s collaborators and friends are in the area.
“We would be looking in SoHo, NoLIta and Bond Street — we looked at a lot of different places and we noticed that we would come back here to have a drink or go for dinner,” he said. “A lot of events we’ve done, we’ve done down here. We were like, ‘Why are we going up there if actually we want to hang out down here?’ So, we said let’s look for a space in the Lower East Side and this one came up and for us it was the perfect corner.”
Le Père worked with Bond Architecture for the store, focusing on a yellow hue for the location’s accent color. Wright stated the brand focuses on a certain color for each market it enters.
The store will offer pieces from the brand’s fall 2023 collection and showcase its new spring 2024 campaign featuring model Anwar Hadid.
In addition to its own direct-to-consumer business, Le Père’s retail partners include Neiman Marcus, Ssense and specialty retailers across the globe.
Overall, Le Père’s goal with the flagship is to continue to cultivate its community and to give customers a physical touchpoint with the brand.
“Between the events we’re going to do here and the community that we’re growing, it’s a space for us to actually show the texture and the preciousness of the fabrics themselves,” Wright said. “Our designer, he’s just super particular and has amazing taste, so we put a lot of time into how everything feels, drapes and fits, so in person, you can see that.”
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